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by SoGrey
Summary: Four years ago Olivia left for Oregon without so much as a goodbye to her partner. Now she's back and things definitely aren't the way she left them. How did Elliot cope, and how will he react to her return? E/O My summaries suck.


**Disclaimer: I own Dick Wolf. In this dream I had. You were there! And you were there! And there was sushi! Lots of sushi! Okay, so whatever, I only own Isobel and any other character I come up with should I decide to continue this piece. **

**A/N - I'm NOT the greatest writer, but I like to tell stories so just bear with me. Hate it? Love it? Suggestions? Leave me a review! This story is just coming out, and I have no idea where it's going though I have a few ideas bouncing around what bit of brain I have left so I'm just going to have fun with it. Enjoy!  
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"Where's Elliot?"

It was the question Olivia Benson longed to ask as soon as she walked into the 16th Precinct and noticed his desk was uncharacteristically neat and his chair empty. But between the hugs and questions and requests that she return to work as soon as possible, she hadn't been able to get a word in edgewise. Finally, sitting alone with Cragen in his office she got a chance to voice her question, before realizing that she was terrifiedof what the answer would be. Did he quit? Was her injured? The way Cragen paused before answering her question didn't help in calming her nerves one bit. After a beat he cleared his throat and answered herquestion.

"He asked for some time off. He's on vacation for a week."

Satisfied and relieved at his answer, she smirked. "He actually asked for vacation time? What the hell did you slip in his coffee?" It was no secret that she and Elliot both were more than married to their jobs. Evenduring her undercover stint in Oregon, SVU was under her skin. It didn't win her many friends with the local police, but that wasn't the point. It seemed as though she'd have to get SVU surgically removed if she ever decided to quit. Cragen chuckled a bit at her question before he answered.

"Elliot has been... not quite himself these past few years." Her grin faded at this comment, but Cragen hastily continued. "It's not a bad thing! Right after you left he kind of lost it for a while. Then one day, the day I decided I was going to force him to get help, or find a new career, he came in with a personality transplant. Apologized to everyone in the office. Talked to Huang voluntarily. Even took some anger management courses." To say Olivia was shocked would be an understatement, what with all the flies she was catching while her chin rested on her chest. Elliot going to Huang on his own? Anger Management classes? 'Personality transplant my ass!', she thought to herself 'He must have been abducted by aliens!'

"So what caused this miraculous turnaround?" she asked although she thought she knew the answer. He must have gotten back together with Kathy. Olivia remembered it had been eating him alive when Kathy toldhim she wanted a divorce. It was during the roughest part of his relationship, and though she tried to help him it was impossible because all he did was push her away. Thinking about it, she felt a twinge of jealousyas she wondered what or who had actually gotten through to him, when she couldn't. Cragen's voiced snapped her back to the present, and she filed away those thoughts for later.

"No one knows. Well I supposed Huang does, but with doctor patient privelege and all that, obviously he won't tell anyone."

"Elliot didn't-" she began, but Cragen beat her to the punch.

"Nope. Like I said, he's changed. He keeps his private life private. No going out for drinks with the guys. No talk about his family. When he's here it's strictly business. Personally I think he met someone. He didn'thave you around anymore to put him in his place when need be, so he must have found someone else who could." Cragen spoke almost absent mindedly, and didn't notice the twinge of hurt that passed across Olivia'sfeatures. I was almost like a slap in the face to be reminded that she had abandoned her best friend when he needed her most, and that he'd replaced her because of it.

"So he and Kathy...?" The answer was obvious, but she asked anyway.

"The divorce was finalized about a month after you left. He doesn't talk about it, obviously." They were silent for a moment as Olivia tried to process all the new information before Cragen spoke once again.

"So, when are you coming back?" he asked. It was Friday, so she told him that she'd start on Monday. Leaving his office, she stopped once again to chat with Casey, John and Fin who made her promise they'd gettogether for drinks later that night to celebrate her return. Half an hour later she finally left the precinct to get ready, and to thank the gods she had a week before she had to face Elliot for the first time in four years.

************~~~~~~~~~~EOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEO~~~~~~~~~~***********

**_One Week Later_**

Elliot Stabler was exhausted. Happily exhausted. Gathering his belongings from the car service, he gave the driver a hefty tip when he offered to help him carry his bags up to his apartment. It would have only taken two trips to get everything, but he didn't want to risk leaving Isobel in the apartment alone, even if it was for only two minutes. She'd come into his world as a surprise, but within only a week she became his entire world. He'd been nursing a massive hangover from the night before when he'd gotten that fateful call from the hospital. When he arrived and the circumstances had been explained to him, he nearly bolted from the building without a backwards glance but when he turned, he almost ran smack into the nurse holding the little bundle in her arms.

"Would you like to hold her?" she asked, pushing the swaddle of pink blanket towards him, and though he didn't immediately reach for her, his eyes shifted to her little face. Her eyes were wide and clear and the exact same shade of blue has his own, and he was in love. He took the initiative and got his shit together and every day he thank God for sending that little angel to save him.

Now here it was, three years later and he was even more in love, if that was even possible. They'd just returned from celebrating her third birthday in Disneyland with his mother, his siblings and all of their children. She'd had a blast. Since she was the youngest, everyone insisted upon spoiling her to no end, so by the end of the trip he'd ended up having to buy another suitcase just to pack all of the mementos and toys she'd collected during their week in Orlando except for those she insisted upon wearing home. Her ensemble consisted of a Cinderella tiara, with a matching pink sparkly tutu. A pink Tinkerbell hooded sweatshirt, with pink Chuck Taylor's. They'd gotten quite a few amused looks at the airport.

Finally after getting her settled, he made sure to turn on her 'Daddy's Princess' nightlight, and got himself ready for bed. Tomorrow he was going back to work and he didn't think he was at all prepared. His brain was still on vacation mode. But then again, in his line of work, a person can never be truly prepared. Setting the alarm on his cell phone (he'd left it behind in New York to be sure that he had no distractions while with his family) he ignored the message alert, deciding he'd go through them sometime tomorrow. Had he done it right then, he may have been at least a little prepared for the next morning. Prepared to see the face he'd told himself recently he'd finally gotten over.

**A/N - Okay, so there's chapter 1. What'dya think?! Wondering where Kathy and the kids are? Where the hell did Isobel come from? Why the hell was Olivia gone a whole four years? What did Elliot say to Huang in his sessions? Is butter a carb?! Review, review, review! It would be SO fetch!**


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